Mumbai: The day which showcased the results of prestigious municipal polls Live on several channels, saw growth in TV viewing by 8% in Maharashtra. Marathi News, on the same day saw a jump of 6 fold in viewership. Surprisingly a Marathi News channel ? Star Majha - was the most viewed TV channels in universe, even bigger than Hindi and Marathi GECs.

STAR Majha was clearly leading all the channels with 8.79% viewership share followed by Sony Entertainment TV with 7.21%. Refer the grid below.

With the flagship election property ?Kaul Marathi Manacha?, STAR Majha led the marathi news bunch with 48% market share where, IBN Lokmat stood at 28% & Zee 24 Taas at 24% - making it the preferred news channel of every Maharashtrian.

On the fateful day, Marathi News Genre reached out to 4.1 Mn more viewers as compared to past four week?s average. On comparison within the channels, STAR Majha was sampled by 22% more viewers than IBN Lokmat & 23% more than Zee 24 Taas viewers, reaching out to total 6.5 Mn in all Maharastra. IBN Lokmat & Zee 24 Taas were sampled by 5 Mn viewers each.

In extension of increase in eye-balls, the average Marathi News viewer was glued for 56 mins more than a usual day in the past weeks. The commanding content aired on STAR Majha was able to hold back its viewer for a longer duration. Where the consumption of STAR Majha was for a solid 53 min on an average by a viewer on the day, it was only for 40 min by IBN Lokmat viewer & 33 min by a Zee 24 Taas viewer.

Special coverage on polls was the major property of the day for the Genre. Where, ?MAHAPALIKANCHA MAHACOVERAGE? of STAR Majha collected 41 GRPs with 14 hrs of airing across the day. ?MAHAPALIKANCHA RANSANGRAM? of Zee 24 Tass garnered 23 GRPs in 17 hrs & ?FAISLA JANTECHA? of IBN Lokmat which was aired for 22 Hrs collected 28 GRPs.

(Source: TAM Peoplemeter System, TG: CS 15+ ABC, Market: Maharashtra)